Work Text:
The sky was cloudy in New York. The city was bustling with people, making it a bit hard for Winston to get to work. As he made his way in, he wasn’t surprised with seeing Janine already on the phone and writing down names. “Morning Janine.” He gave her a wave, making his way to the wall to clock in.
After the whole Gozer fiasco, they had managed to clean up the firehouse pretty nicely. They even got a pretty penny out of Peck to help with the repairs. Karmic justice at it’s finest/
As Winston walked over to clock in, he noticed Egon had already clocked in. Winston was naturally an early riser from the marines, but seeing two people here before him was strange. “Hey, Janine!” He called out after clocking in, “How long has Egon been here?”. When he had left around 11pm last night, Egon had still been there. It was now 7am.
There was a pause, the woman thinking for a moment. “He was here before I even showed up.” She responded.
Winston looked over to her then the direction Egon’s lab was in. He didn’t like this at all. Setting his jacket in his locker, Winston headed over to the lab to see if the resident brainiac was in there.
He hadn’t even come through the door yet when he heard Egon’s rambles from within the lab. It was hard to tell how this man would react to being disrupted. Sometimes Egon gave a passive aggressive look of annoyance while others he would be fuming once they entered. Still, he took the chance, knocking on the door before entering.
“What’s the point of knocking if you’re just going to walk in?” Egon muttered, looking up from his station.
There was an attempt to hide the smirk at his colleague’s annoyance. A very bad attempt. “I just wanted to see what you're up to, you're here really early.” Winston stated, walking over to the other man.
As he got a closer look at his friend's desk, he saw whatever weird project he was working on. Probably an upgrade for the proton packs or traps or who knows whatever the heck Egon Spengler, that wasn’t what he cared about though.
What Winston did notice was the faint shake in his hand, the empty coffee cups, the litter of Crunch bar wrappers, and the outfit he was wearing. It was the same one from yesterday. Egon would never willingly wear the same clothes two days in a row.
“Wait, have you been here all night?” Winston asked, getting silence as a response, “You did!”.
“I can get the appropriate amount of sleep in this room thank you very much. There’s no point in returning home if I’m just to come here the next morning.” Egon retorted, pushing his glasses up his face. The scientist went to reach for his coffee mug, finding it empty. “Of course.” He grumbled, grabbing the mug and got up. Egon excused himself, walking past Winston as he headed out of his lab. Winston watched him go, unable to shake the feeling so he followed after his friend.
Egon gave a curt hello to Janine as he passed her, going straight for the coffee machine. As Winston caught up with him, he noticed that the pot was nearly empty already. He shot a look at Janine who just shrugged, clearly she hadn’t made it.
Okay, something was going on.
Looking up, he saw Egon making his way back to his lab. Yeah no, he wasn’t letting this go. Following after Egon, Winston managed to cut in front of him, blocking the doorway. “Egon, I think you can take a break buddy. Your hands are shaking from all the coffee.” Winston stated.
“I assure you, I can-” When Egon reached for the door, Winston pulled it closed. The scientist froze up, staring at the door wide eyed.
“I just wanna talk-“
“Open the door, now Winston.” Egon practically demanded.
The man’s face was a pale shade and Winston truly took in his friend's features. Egon had gone pale, the color practically melting from his face. His knuckles had gone white from how tightly he held the coffee mug, his throat flexing as if trying to force itself to allow air in. Winston looked at him then the door, pushing it open. Egon pushed past him, making his way into his lab as fast as he could.
“Hey, Egon, what was that?” Winston demanded.
Egon tried ignoring his coworker, taking a seat down at his desk. “Winston, I’d prefer to do my work in peace.” He still had the same tone as he always did, but Winston could tell there was venom in his tone.
“Fine.” Winston made his way out of the room. The second Ray and Peter got here he had to update the two.
Ray came not that long later, that was reassuring. Peter though? He didn’t show up until just before noon. The two men along with Janine waited at her desk, giving Peter a look as he walked in. “This is the great thing about being your own boss. You can come in whenever you want and you don’t get in trouble.” Peter chuckled, walking past the three.
“Ahem.” Janine abruptly said, making the other man look over. “What?” Peter raised a brow.
“Look, there’s something wrong with Egon. Not his normal weird stuff, there is something legitimately wrong with him.” Winston stated, looking between the other two, “He’s been here since yesterday. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t slept, he literally went through an entire mug of coffee. Then he looked ready to have a full blown panic attack when I closed the door.”.
Concern laced through Ray, looking in the direction where Egon’s lab was. “Did you try talking to him?” He asked, unable to hide the worried look on his features. He knew Egon was being Egon, focusing on work but to be like this?
“Of course I tried talking to him! But Egon clammed up.” Winston shrugged, “I didn’t know what to do.”.
“Look, he got turned into a dog. I’m sure we can just take him to therapy.” Peter said, getting jabbed in the side by Ray.
A disgruntled groan left Janine, looking at the three men. “You can’t force him to go to therapy, it won’t work. What you need to do is be there for him, okay? Starting by letting him know it’s okay for him not to be okay.”
Janine had a point. They had to show Egon wasn’t alone. That they were there for him.